Sunday, September 6, 2015

For
all the great things that we've accomplished, there always seems to be too many
of us willing to toss it all of the window for no good reason.

The
destruction this week of the Temple of Palmyra all too clearly illustrates my
point. In an exercise of power thinly disguised as the ‘elimination of idolatry’ IS completely destroyed an ancient site, forever erasing it from the planet
so that it now exists only in photographs.

They
did this to create their own version of the world, physically removing evidence
that contradicts their limited worldview. Creating their own history from the
rubble of the true.

Top: Before IS - Below: After IS

It
is willful acts of destruction like this that make me wonder about our
civilization. About future generations knowing nothing about the consequence of
the past because of the actions of a few, of history intentionally lost,
distorted or even destroyed.

Of
stupidity winning, all the name of 'true' belief.

September 1 – Cable’s Cut!

Well,
that’s it: no more cable as of today.

A
month ago, I finally located an Internet company that can provide service to
Victoria BC. Last year, I became extremely frustrated when after searching
through every single Internet provider in Canada, not a single one of them
could offer their service as an alternative locally here to Shaw or Telus.

However,
about three months ago, I learned about a local start up here in Victoria
called Juce – finally! Their prices are perfect: $39.99 / month for the same
speed as Shaw's mid-range Internet package, with the added benefit of no
throttling at peak periods which is an issue with very crowded service
providers like Shaw in larger cities.

Considering
I've been paying a package price of $138.00 + tax / month with Shaw for phone,
Internet and cable TV, it's long past the time when I should have downgraded
but the lack of an alternative here in Victoria had stymied that move.

No
longer. In giving up cable TV( the phone isn't really an issue, as I have a
cell )there's going to be a lot less temptation to simply ‘relax’ in front of
the boob tube, as I'll have to go looking for things to watch. It's fascinating
how much less I want to watch a show if I have to go searching for episodes
rather than simply seeing what's on TV at the moment and deciding if I want to
spend the time to watch it.

Time is
what it's all about, really. The fact that I'm paying over 70% less per month
for Internet service is icing on the cake, but really what it's doing is making
my daily choices simpler in terms of what I want to spend my time on.

September 2 – Cosplay Project 2016

I
have a new project for the spring: a costume!

Not
a Halloween costume, however, but rather a con costume, one that will probably
take me at least four months to complete working a few hours here and there
every week.

My
girlfriend and I have decided that, budget pending, were going to attend
Emerald City Con in Seattle in April 2016. As part of that somewhat short trip(
Seattle's not that far away )we're
going to do a pair of themed costumes from one of our favorite sci-fi movies: Aliens.

I'm
going to be a Colonial Marine and she's going to be Ellen Ripley:

Key
to both costumes will be the M41A pulse rifle props: the guns that the Marines
and Ripley used to battle the aliens in the movie. I've decided that I'm not
going to do half-assed flimsy props made out of paper or cardboard, nor am I
going to spend many hundreds of dollars on a screen-accurate prop
unnecessarily

Instead,
I've lucked into a pair of Nerf Elite Retaliator toys on eBay, which according
to my research can be fairly easily modified into almost perfect replicas of
the M41-a guns. If I do it right, we'll even still shoot Nerf darts! Here's a
video of someone who did a rough job
of a conversion for almost no money; I'll be doing a much neater job on ours,
possibly with working lights and sounds to simulate sound-accurate weapons fire:

In
addition to the guns, will each have to work up our costumes. I'm still
determining the most cost effective way to do my armor, which will probably
involve paper templates and layers of a safe, fiberglass-like substance that I
can work with inside the apartment with minimal ventilation. If worse comes to
worse, I can simply create a one-use painted cardboard costume, knowing that
the guns themselves will be the real stars of the show.

September 3 – MOTU was OK

Sometimes,
despite our best effort, things don't work out.

Such
was the case in 1987, when the live-action version of Masters of The Universe hit theaters. Having grown up with the
animated TV series, I was extremely excited to see what MOTU would turn into on the big screen.

As
I discovered, it was mostly a stinky disappointment.

Underwhelmed
at the time, I have never bothered to watch the film again in all years since.
However, now and again I will run across articles singing the praises of the
film in terms of its pieces rather than the overall whole. In particular, Frank
Langella as Skeletor and Meg Foster as Evil-Lynn rise above the material to
deliver solid, memorable performances:

It's funny, there's quite a few films sire
ever seen when I was younger that I wouldn't bother with ever viewing again,
but taking about it today, MOTU doesn't
fall under this category. As this recent article’s author observes, all the cast
in the movie were sincere in their performances and that's came across quite clearly.
For that reason alone, I think I'll give it another viewing soon, when I feel
the need for some good old-fashioned 80s film love.

September 4 – Weighing In

Are
people in BC healthier than other Canadians?

That
seems to be the case in recent study that examined the health levels of
Canadians living in Vancouver versus other cities in Canada.

The
study concluded that if all Canadians were as healthy as those in the larger
cities in BC, billions could be saved by the health industry. Interestingly, it
appears that declining rates of tobacco use has meant that health problems due
to obesity have overtaken those issues caused by smoking for the first time:

While cancers, heart disease and
respiratory ailments from smoking once accounted for the biggest single chunk
of avoidable costs, falling rates of tobacco use have changed that. Instead,
the rising number of overweight Canadians has made diabetes and joint problems
a greater burden."From an economic perspective, the
impact of excess weight in Canada is now more substantial than that of tobacco
smoking," says the report. "Our updated model suggests that in 2013,
the annual economic burden attributable to excess weight in Canada was 25 per
cent higher than that attributable to tobacco smoking ($23.3 billion versus
$18.7 billion)."

I find it interesting that the study
dovetails into my own long-held impression of the West Coast lifestyle of being
more healthy in general than living in the eastern provinces or even the prairies.
My few visits to Vancouver also confirm the impression of the city that puts
great value on access to healthy lifestyle venues and general exercise. How
ironic that my own bike riding days have fallen behind me, in that I can now
walk to work in 15 minutes.

Meaning that I have to make more time to
exercise in and of itself, rather than having it as a side benefit of simply
getting to work and back on a daily basis.

September 5 – Sans Cable, Day 4

I
thought I'd provide a short update to my first week.

It's
really amusing to me how often in the last few days that I'd be sitting at
home, thinking that a need to relax and I immediately reach for the TV remote.
Not a book, or my computer, but the television was always the first thing I
thought of.

Now
that I can't do that, it's kind of scary how often it happened this week.

How
much of my time was spent each week watching television that didn't really
matter? Shows that, while certainly entertaining, did nothing to help me as a
person or two further my desire to create a career for myself as a writer.

I
still have a Netflix account, as well as accounts at several different
streaming media sites such as Crackle.com, so I can get more than a few shows
fairly quickly if I so wish.

More
difficult part is finding shows that arch on these services. I may explore
using a VPN to surf around the web based in the USA, but that's a bit tricky
and to be honest I don't want to spend too much time looking for distractions, which
is what watching TV is for me this year. I have a novel and a half left to
complete, so whatever time I managed to gain in the day that's not being spent
on television needs to go directly into that.

Now
I just have to find the energy that I
had from a few months ago…

September 6 – Buoyed By Success!

Today
we finally got to test our creations!

Over
a month ago, my girlfriend and I decided to create some ‘extras’ to use in the
ceiling pond along with our Haulin’
Trawler RC boat. A few weeks ago, I posted pictures of the completed buoys,
which were still awaiting our final decisions on how to string them out in the
pond - important because we wanted to ensure they didn't foul any propellers while
remaining stationary in the water and still allowing easy placement / retrieval.

Heading
down to the pond today, we were amused to see that we were the only ones there,
likely because of the overcast conditions( which
cleared up just as we left several hours later, around noon ). We strung
our initial 4-buoy string on plastic weed-whacker refill line( 30m of it, which won’t rot )along with
some weights and put them into the water.

Everything
worked perfectly!

The
buoys floated at exactly the right height, while the line remained submerged
well below any propellers thanks to the weights we had tied off to the
suspension ropes attaching the buoys to the plastic refill line. The spacing
between the buoys was also perfect, which I had judged by eye alone – go me!

We
had a great time maneuvering are both around the buoys, which bobbled quite
realistically in the ways we made and really stood out against the water in
their fluorescent colours. The only downside was when another RC boater showed
up with a speed boat and managed to smash directly into one of the boys,
knocking off all three of the decorative tops we had glued on. Fortunately,
they can be easily reattached with some hot glue, so really no harm done,
though the other boater was quite embarrassed about the accident.

My lady and I are having fun being creative
like this, enjoying the activities we're discovering together. RC boating is
something we both thoroughly enjoy, as it's relaxing and, as a hobby, can be
expanded any number of ways. We can even think about getting things like RC
planes, though we’d have to drive out to designated RC airfields in the area if
we end up getting a serious air vehicle. Myself, I might just pick up this
little gem:

All in all, it was a really good day, with
lots accomplished. Even the weather cooperated almost to the minute by not
raining on us while we were sailing and the sun coming out for most of the
afternoon. Even when we were out having dinner on the patio, the sun stayed out
of the clouds until almost exactly when we were ready to settle the bill.

It doesn't get much better than that.

Yes indeedy, it was a better week than I'd though. Work was steady to slow, with no stress to speak of and I sailed right into the weekend with a smile. While I'm still working on a regular wake / sleep cycle, things are improving and I hope my energy levels will return to what they were shortly.